Mercedes GP head Nick Fry is adamant Michael Schumacher will come good following fierce criticism of his latest performance. Schumacher qualified in 13th for the Canadian Grand Prix, then endured a torrid race.

The 41-year-old was initially involved in a tangle across the grass with Renault's Robert Kubica, suffering a puncture that forced him into another pit stop a lap after making his first.

Later in the race Schumacher escaped punishment from the stewards for an incident with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, his friend and former team-mate.

Humiliatingly, Schumacher was then passed by Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso, and on the final lap by both Force Indias of Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil, dropping him out of the points to 11th as he struggled on the softer tyres that had degraded badly.

BBC pundits Martin Brundle, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard then lined up to give Schumacher a hammering, the former in particular claiming he drove "appallingly badly" in what was his "worst weekend since he came back".

Germany's Bild newspaper also cited the race as Schumacher's "blackest lap" this season.

Fry said: "I'm surprised people have reached those conclusions. He was in a good position until the puncture, but when something like that happens, you get out of sequence.

"We also put him on the option tyre slightly earlier than we maybe should have done, otherwise he would have been able to defend better than he did. But certainly from inside the team we see things in a totally different perspective.

"We don't really see any significant difference in performance between Nico [Rosberg] and Michael – one is getting the breaks and the other isn't at the moment.

"In sport, what goes around comes around. For those who have a run of luck, that frequently comes to an end, and the opposite happens. So we're very comfortable with Michael's performance, and I can't see any reason why he won't come good. He continues to improve, and he is going make a good job of it."

Schumacher conceded before the race the title was beyond him this year, and he was already starting to look ahead towards next season.

Following his third grand prix of the year without a point, Schumacher now trails leader Lewis Hamilton by 75, the equivalent of three race victories.

Asked whether the title was gone for Schumacher, an optimistic Fry said: "Absolutely not.

"It's all part of the learning process. I think he, and we as a team, will continue to work hard this year and do the best we can. We still want to be in the top three. Red Bull and McLaren are fairly dominant, but Ferrari have had a mixed season."

Mercedes, last year's champions when they were Brawn GP, are languishing in fourth in the constructors' championship, 107 points behind McLaren.

These are lean times for the German manufacturing giant, with Fry adding: "We've struggled to make the so-called f-duct rear wing work, and we don't have the special exhaust system Red Bull have.

"If we can get both of those things on the car then we'll be in a lot better position, and in the second half of the season we will continue to work hard and improve."